Richie Gray has revealed his man-of-the-match performance for Scotland against France last weekend was his way of shutting up his fiercest critic.

Before the Six Nations started, former England and Lions centre Jeremy Guscott described the 6ft 8in, dyed blond second row as 'Bambi on ice' and claimed he was too slow and cumbersome to have any impact on the tournament.

Great Scot: Richie Gray attracted a number of admirers for his performance against France last weekend

Gray took his comments to heart and used them as motivation to fire him up in the Stade de France.

He made two try-saving tackles, won lots of line-out ball and bounded all over the park in the best display of his career.

A few days later Guscott, who was one of the BBC pundits in the Stade de France, changed his tune, much to Gray's hilarity.

'I had some banter with Lawrence Dallaglio recently over Richie Gray and have to concede that I was very wrong in my appraisal of him,' Guscott wrote on the BBC website in response to angry Scots who had taken him to task over the newspaper comments.

Fighting back: Guscott described the dyed blond second row as 'Bambi on ice' ahead of the Six Nations opener

'His performance against France made him Scotland's man of the match. 'He played better than I anticipated and I am pleased for him and Dallaglio that he did. He looks a very decent player and if he continues with those kind of performances and keeps himself injury-free he will be a Scotland regular for a long time to come.'

Now Gray is preparing to rub further salt in the wound against Wales at Murrayfield on Saturday.

'My girlfriend texted on the morning when Jeremy Guscott's comments were published saying he had been quite harsh on me,' said Gray, 21.

Bright future: Gray is only 21

'I went out and had a good read through of what he had said and it gave me an extra drive for the France game.

'I have kept a copy of his comments in my flat in Glasgow and although everybody is entitled to their opinion it is up to me to try and change opinions like his as much as possible. As for Jeremy, he was a bit before my time so I can't comment on what I think what kind of player he was.'

More of a concern to Scotland head coach Andy Robinson is the fact that top French clubs are already circling Gray, ready to pounce when his contract with Glasgow Warriors ends in less than 12 months.

Sportsmail understands that Stade Francais, Toulon and Clermont Auvergne, who all have multi-million-pound budgets, will be in a bidding war for his services.

Robinson, who has singled out Gray as one of the players he wants to build his Scotland team around over the next four years, is keen to keep him north of the border so he can work with him whenever he wants, but he may be fighting a losing battle.

Gray, 21, kept his cards close to his chest yesterday, although he did admit he had been astonished by the level of interest since the France game.

'I did get a nice wee text from my agent but that was just to congratulate me on how well I played,' he laughed.

The French newspaper L'Equipe headlined a huge piece on Gray this week which translated into 'so blond, so good'.

He may admit to dying his hair, but his blond locks make him stand out from the crowd in much the same way that former French captain Jean-Pier re Rives used to.

But Gray, in only his second season as a professional, is keeping his feet firmly on the ground and admits there are still parts of his game he has to work on.

'My play in the scrum has to get better and also certain aspects of my defence,' he said.